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Where Am I?

Navigation has to be one of the most important things to learn and understand before exploring the outdoors. Living in an age where technology rules everything I think it is far to easy to get lazy and rely solely on electronic equipment such as phones and GPS’s when heading into the bush.

When it came time for myself to further develop my navigational skills past the point of just reading North, South, East and West on a compass I carried out some research which lead me to the book; Wilderness Navigation by Bob and Mike Burns. This book had a lot of positive reviews and after reading it for myself would have to agree. It has a lot of valuable info on equipment, topographical map types, co-ordinate systems and more. One of the great parts of this book are the map reading exercises near the end which get you to practice reading terrain and finding where you are using what you have just read and learnt. Having interactive examples really helps retain the information and it turns it from theoretical info into practical tools.

“Father-and-son team Bob Burns and Mike Burns, have decades of professional experience teaching navigation, map and compass, and GPS skills through The Mountaineers and other outdoor education centres.”

Contents of the book

Map Basics

Compass Basics

Orientation with Map and Compass

Navigation with Map and Compass

Lost!

More about Maps

More about Compass and Geomagnetism

The Altimeter

The Global Positioning System

Wilderness Route Finding

This book is an invaluable tool for anyone heading out into the bush, and I would recommend it as a strong starting point in the journey of Wilderness Navigation.